Wednesday, January 29, 2014
KNOT FOR PROFIT UT student Harrison Collins is trying to save the world, one bow tie at a time.
Troy Provost-Heron Sports Editor The Lady Vols have seemingly found themselves. The month of January saw Tennessee seesawing, never able to get any momentum going. That is, until they met up with the Florida Gators on Jan. 23. The Lady Vols chalked up an 89-69 victory against UF, followed by a 76-55 win over Texas A&M on Sunday. This marked only the second time UT had won consecutive games this month. Shockingly, the Lady Vols have been able to figure it out without their floor general, Ariel Massengale, who left the Florida game in the first half after suffering a facial injury. Her replacement, Andraya Carter, has been sound at the point for the Lady Vols in their last two contests, posting a 14:5 assist to turnover ratio while playing the quality defense she is known for. “I think I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with it, especially with those practices after the Florida game and just relying on my coaches and teammates who have given me a ton of confidence,” Carter said. “I know they have faith in me, so it’s hard to not have faith in myself.” The redshirt freshman guard also has a new-found confidence in her offensive game. Carter averaged 4.3 shots per game as the reserve point guard, but as the main ball handler, she has averaged seven a contest and is shooting six percent better from the floor. “I feel pretty good,” Carter said. “A good friend of mine actually told me ‘confidence is repetition,’ and I’ve really been sticking with that. Just being in the gym extra has given me more confidence and then talking with my teammates and coaches, knowing my role, knowing the game plan, I think all of that helps with confidence so I just got to keep it going.” Even though Massengale remains injured, Carter names the Bolingbrook, Ill., native as the main reason for her success since stepping into the new role. “Ariel has been so much help these last games, but really for the whole season,” Carter said. “Like I said after the Texas A&M game, I wouldn’t have had near as much confidence if it weren’t for Ariel. I was playing because she was out, but the reason I was playing well was because of her, as well. “She has helped me so much... We compete when we are on the court in practice together but she has my back and I know that.” See CARTER on Page 3
Jenna Butz Staff Writer TivaTies aren’t merely a fashion statement — they’re a statement of values. In November, Harrison Collins, junior in marketing and entrepreneurship, capitalized on a goal set the previous year: designing and selling bow ties to raise money for charity. His nonprofit business, “TivaTies,” benefits TivaWater, an organization providing water filters to underprivileged families in developing countries. In keeping with his personal style, Collins chose the accessory for its novelty.
“I’m a big bow tie guy, and I wear them all the time,” Collins said. “You couldn’t tell I like to dress up because I’m normally pretty rugged, ragtag and thrown together. But, if it’s a nice occasion, I love to dress up for it. I think a bow tie says a lot about a guy. It’s sort of quirky and confident.” An unusual choice, the ties depart from more predictable products like water bottles. Collins said he
11 COUNTRIES AIDED 4,200 FILTERS 30,000 AFFECTED
believes this will work to increase their popularity. “It was just an interesting way to raise money,” Collins said. “They seem completely unrelated: bow ties and clean water. But I like that, ‘How do these two relate?’ It’s a good conversation starter, and it can get people talking about how they can help.” Not one for resolutions, Collins welcomes each new year with a list of accomplishments he hopes to meet.
In 2013, Collins’ 13 goals included designing a charitable bow tie; a vision now becoming a reality. He said he woke up inexplicably in the middle of the night with the thought to design one and admits initial uncertainty as to how to implement this epiphany. After talking to a family friend involved with TivaWater, Collins met the organization’s owner. This encounter solidified his selection. “I heard their mission, their vision, everything about what they do,” Collins said. “No questions, this is who I want it to be.” See BOW TIES on Page 3
“It’s the best work
environment that I’ve ever been in, where I feel invested in,” Collins said. “And they’re teaching me a lot about being a responsible and honest businessman.”
TIVAWATER’S MISSION: A team of social entrepreneurs who strive to deliver the world’s best at-home water filter to those in the developing world.
Issue 15, Volume 125
UT officials lobby to win super CPU ownership Liz Wood Staff Writer Recreating the explosion of a star in deep space – just another phenomenon supercomputers are able to simulate. Useful across a range of scientific fields, supercomputers can be used to study drugs, climate change, and even national healthcare. With Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) and the Joint Institute for Computational Sciences (JICS) in close proximity to the university, East Tennessee is a global center for such technology. In fact, ORNL’s National Institute for Computational Sciences is one of the largest computing centers on the planet; the ORNL and JICS’s Intel Parallel Computing Center being one of only five such institutions in the world. The world’s four other IPCC’s are located in Italy, Germany, Purdue, and the University of Texas. Tony Mezzacappa, named director of JICS last year, leads the university’s campaign to win a new supercomputer. “We here at the university, we here in Knoxville and East Tennessee, are very proud,” Mezzacappa said. “This is one of the things that makes us arguably the best place in the world for computing. When we talk about computing here at the university, there’s so much to talk about. “It’s really phenomenal to talk about supercomputing on campus.” See SUPERCOMPUTER on Page 3
Speech impediment is inspiration for Vawter in ‘Paperboy’ Katherine Nanney Contributor For most people, speech impediments are nightmarish, causing awkwardness or embarrassment even in short conversations. For novelist Vince Vawter, however, they are source material. UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature partnered with the Knoxville Public Library to bring Vawter, author of the Newbery Medal winning children’s novel “Paperboy,” to campus Monday night. “Paperboy” is set in Memphis, Tenn., and follows an 11-year-old boy named Victor who struggles with a stutter. Victor pitches for his baseball team, and he does well when he doesn’t have to speak to people. But in the summer, Victor takes over his friend’s paper route and must learn to communicate with some of the not-so-easygoing customers. “Talking for everybody is not so easy,” Vawter said. “It’s pretty complicated if you really think about it.” The story is largely based on Vawter’s own experiences as a child with a speech impediment. Growing up in Memphis, he said he had a very difficult time with the disorder. He said he wrote on his typewriter because he felt that, although it was difficult and even painful
to speak aloud, he could always get the right words out on paper. Vawter said because he based the protagonist off himself, the writing process brought up some very painful and emotional memories. “There is a lot of my life in this book,” he said. Vawter even told the audience that as he was writing the novel, his family noticed his speech seemed to be getting worse, almost as if he was reverting back to his days in Memphis as a lonely 11-year-old with a stutter. “I still have a speech impediment,” Vawter said. “But it doesn’t stop me, and I think that’s important.” Vawter said all the characters of the novel were based off of people from his past except for one man, whom he said he based off his 65-year-old self. Vawter said he wanted there to be a character that helped to foster the growth and development of the 11-year-old protagonist. However, Vawter readily admitted the novel didn’t have the kind of resolution children’s novels often have. “I won’t make it a fairy tale,” he said. “Victor doesn’t miraculously stop stuttering at the end Newbery Honor award winner and local author Vince of the book.” Vawter discusses his novel “Paperboy” in the CCI See VAWTER on Page 8 Auditorium on Monday.
Maggie Loveday • The Daily Beacon
Carter fills void at PG for injured Massengale
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